1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an optical disc player and more specifically to a portable disc player/recorder that provides a scalable casing for containing various disc sizes.
2. Background of the Invention
Today, most electronic data, whether it is audio, video or computer, is stored and transferred via an optical disc, such as a compact disc (“CD”) or a Digital Versatile Disc (“DVD”). With this growing use of the optical disc, many portable disc players for reading these discs have been developed.
In general, a portable disc player or recorder may be a peripheral component of a laptop computer or a stand alone portable device that can be carried in the palm of a user's hand. With either type, the player will provide a casing for containing a data transfer device (“DTD”) having various conventional mechanisms that allow the player to read and/or write data to and/or from the disc. At a minimum, the DTD will include a conventional optical pickup unit (“OPU”) having a sled motor, a spindle motor, and an actuator or voice coil; and general electronics for encoding, decoding and transferring the signal obtained from the optical disc by the OPU to at least one input/output (“I/O”) port. The I/O ports are also conventional and may be used to couple the signal to anything from a processor to a set of headphones. In some instances, the DTD may also include a processor for translating the audio, video or computer signal.
The casing of each optical disc player will also include a mechanism for inserting the optical disc. One of the most common mechanisms of a laptop for handling the insertion and removal of a CD and/or DVD utilizes a tray. The tray is typically activated by the user and requires the operation of various mechanical parts. Another mechanism allows the user to position the CD and/or DVD into a slot in the front of the drive. With either of these mechanisms, the positioned disc must be picked up at some point in the insertion process and positioned on a motor spindle of the OPU for subsequent reading and writing operations. When ejection of the CD is desired, the same mechanism removes the CD from the motor spindle and ejects it to some position that resides partially outside of the drive so that the operator can grasp the disc.
Although some portable hand-held disc players may use the above mechanism to insert and remove a disc, most stand alone disc players utilize the casing. More specifically, the casing in most stand alone disc players, such as a CD player, provides a top portion that is hinged to the bottom portion. Therefore, by using a common latch system, the top portion of the casing can be secured to the bottom portion to contain a disc, and opened to remove or insert a disc. As with the laptop mechanisms, the disc would be secured to the motor spindle of the OPU during the insertion process.
Other elements that are typically associated with a portable disc player include a power source or plug, LEDs for displaying operational conditions, at least one operational button and a central processing unit. Obviously, the stand alone disc player may have numerous buttons to accommodate the various operations of the player and may provide a LCD for displaying the progress of the player while operating. Some of the buttons could be used for operations selected from the group including play, stop, skip, volume, forward, rewind, and pause. General directional arrows may also be employed for menu options provided by a processing unit.
When the above portable disc players are designed to accommodate both 80 and 120 mm discs, the size of the casing is always larger then a 120 mm disc. Consequently, when an 80 mm disc is positioned within a disc player that can accommodate both 80 and 120 mm discs, the size of the disc player will not change. Since a 120 mm CD or DVD provides nearly twice the surface area as a 80 mm CD, a player that only accommodates an 80 mm disc will have a much smaller casing and therefore will be much easier to carry and stow. However, such a device can only be used for a 80 mm disc.
Although most audio, video and computer data is sold today on a 120 mm disc, the future of optical disc technology is moving toward the much smaller 80 mm disc. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a single portable disc player that could be structurally scaled to accommodate a representative size of the disc it accepts. The present invention is directed to overcoming the above problems associated with conventional disc drives.